Austria summons Turkish ambassador over pro-Erdogan demonstrations

Reuters Staff

2 Min Read

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria has summoned Turkey’s ambassador to explain Ankara’s links to demonstrations in Austria in support of Turkey’s president Tayyip Erdogan, who is leading a crackdown after a failed coup, Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz on Thursday.

Kurz told ORF radio that the ambassador would be asked whether Turkish officials encouraged thousands of people in Austria to take to the streets over recent days in support of Erdogan after the attempt to unseat him.

“We want to clarify... which direction Turkey is going to take,” Kurz said in an interview broadcast by ORF on Thursday.

“Secondly, we have evidence that the demonstrations for Erdogan that have taken place in Vienna were called for directly from Turkey... and that, of course, is absolutely untenable and we want to protest against that,” he said.

Erdogan declared a state of emergency on Wednesday as he widened a crackdown against thousands of members of the security forces, judiciary, civil service and academia after the failed military coup.